NV: Secretary of state wants voter photos at polls

CHEESE: Nevada’s secretary of state says forget about voters having IDs. Just have a photo of the voter of the registration rolls.

By Sean Whaley | Nevada News Bureau

CARSON CITY – Secretary of State Ross Miller is offering a new take on the whole voter ID issue – have photographs of registered voters at polling places on election day.

He’s said Tuesday he’s asking for a new law that would upgrade the antiquated-paper roster system by implementing electronic voter rosters that include a photograph of each registered voter.

The requirement of a photograph in the new electronic roster would prevent ineligible voters from impersonating other, eligible voters at a polling place, Miller said. The proposed law, which is being drafted, will seek to import existing photographs of eligible voters from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles database of drivers’ licenses and state identification cards.

The photographs would be part of a new “electronic poll book” as an adjunct to the existing poll books that use signatures for identifying voters. When photographs of the eligible voters are not available through the database, poll workers take photos at the polling place at the time of voting and verify identities through an affidavit.